DFGR vs VNQI

DFGRADimensional Global Real Estate ETF

VNQIAVanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate ETF

In short

DFGR One ticker for the world's landlords: US, developed and emerging-market REITs in a single market-cap-weighted portfolio, traded by Dimensional's desk rather than on an index calendar. Roughly 500 names.

VNQI Everything outside the US property market in one ticker: roughly 700 REITs, landlords and developers across 30-plus countries, developed and emerging, for 0.12% a year.

Stated mandate

DFGR The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing broadly in U.S. and non-U.S. companies principally engaged in real estate, including REITs and REIT-like entities.

VNQI The Fund seeks to track the S&P Global ex-U.S. Property Index, an index of international real estate stocks in developed and emerging markets. It generally uses full replication and invests at least 80% of assets in index securities.

Why people hold it

• DFGR Fee is 0.21% net of a waiver through February 28, 2027 (0.22% gross), below the category median, though index peers REET (0.14%) and HAUZ (0.10%) charge less.
• Holds US and non-US real estate, developed and emerging markets, in one wrapper. HAUZ and VNQI are ex-US only, so pairing them with a US REIT fund is the usual workaround.sec.gov
• No index to shadow: the prospectus lets Dimensional weight by market cap while flexing trade timing and capping country or issuer exposure.sec.gov
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and it pays distributions quarterly.

• VNQI At 0.12% a year, it costs about a quarter of the typical global real estate fund and lands within two basis points of the cheapest in its peer group (HAUZ, 0.10%).
• Full replication across roughly 700 names in more than 30 countries, so no single Tokyo landlord or Sydney mall owner carries the portfolio.vanguard.com
• The benchmark reaches past pure REITs into companies that own, manage and develop property, which is how it covers markets where the REIT structure barely exists.spindices.com
• Trading since 2010 and one of the tighter index trackers in its cohort, which is the whole job for a fund like this.

Worth knowing

• DFGR Single-sector by design, so it moves with property markets and the rates that price them, with roughly 500 names spread across that one sector.
• Foreign REITs mean currency moves land in your return; the fund may use currency forwards for settlement, not to hedge its exposure.sec.gov
• Without a published index to track, there is no simple tracking-difference yardstick, and the waiver expires February 28, 2027, leaving the 0.22% gross fee.sec.gov

• VNQI Currency exposure is unhedged, so moves in the dollar against the yen, euro and other local currencies feed straight into results.vanguard.com
• Emerging markets and China-linked property companies are in the mix, a risk set the prospectus calls out separately from developed-market investing.vanguard.com
• Distributions land annually or semiannually rather than monthly, so the income arrives in lumps.

Full DFGR profile⁠

Full VNQI profile⁠